Pappy in a World War II foxhole

For Veterans Day in 2024, I wrote extensively about my Pappy, John Alexander Otto (1911-1991), and his time as a radio operator in the European Theater during World War II. 

This year for Veterans Day, I'm sharing this photo of Pappy in a foxhole in France in 1945, which I came across for the first time while visiting Dad earlier this year. It's the only photo I'm aware of that shows him in Europe during the war. There wasn't really a lot of time for snapshots.

And here's a photo from about 27 years later — I'm guessing late summer of 1972 — that shows Pappy and me in much happier times. He'd be about 61 here, and I'm a few months shy of 2.

"Not everything is on the internet"

Yes, I see the irony in posting this, but I love this card from Ellipsis Rare Books of East Hampton, New York. It was first posted to Bluesky yesterday by Shannon Mattern and, without that skeet, imagine how many fewer people might have known about Ellipsis and this terrific card.

The team members at Ellipsis describe themselves as "Purveyors of words on paper specializing in rare, unusual, and out-of-print books relating to occultism, spiritualism, weird fiction, folklore, art, and formerly forbidden knowledge from Alchemy to Zen."

Its About Us page adds: "Every item we sell has a story and it is our pleasure to discover and share them with our customers. Curators and cultural custodians in addition to collectors, we pride ourselves on participating in the ongoing preservation of understudied and underappreciated movements, moments, and texts. As we sometimes 'joke', we are in the business of buying and selling evidence."

A shop sharing the origin stories of books and ephemera. Perfection.

An edition of "The Hobbit" of which I was not previously aware

I've posted many covers of The Hobbit in the past, but I had never come across this amazeballs one until recently. This version of J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 classic was first produced for the British primary school market in 1968 by Longman. There was a second printing in 1970. These pictures, snatched from the internet for educational/posterity purposes, show a volume from the 1968 first printing, because it states Longmans at the base of the spine. That was corrected to Longman for the second printing.

Amazingly for an unusual edition of such a high-profile book, the identity of the cover illustrator is unknown. Someone, somewhere must know who did this! 

This version of The Hobbit is incredibly rare. It is estimated that only 1,500 copies were printed across the two impressions, and it is generally thought that only about 50 copies still exist today. If you come across one, it could be worth upwards of $4,000. That's less than you'd get for one of the Rings of Power, but still a fairly precious sum.

Other Tolkien-themed posts

• Happy 120th birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien
• Happy twelvety-first birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien!
• Celebrating J.R.R. Tolkien's twelvety-second birthday
• Celebrating the 80th anniversary of publication of "The Hobbit"
• Happy Christmas Eve, J.R.R. Tolkien style
• Stay-at-home shelfie #22
• 1985 newsletter for "A Change of Hobbit" bookstore

Saturday's postcard: From Beaver Falls to Arizona

This linen postcard of the senior high school in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was mailed in March 1939, while Germany was continuing its incremental invasion of Europe, Francisco Franco was consolidating full power in Spain and Batman was set to make his comic book debut.

This building still stands after 95 years. It opened in 1931 as the high school and remained as such until about 1978, when a new high school opened and this one was converted to the middle school. It still serves as such for what is now called the Big Beaver Falls Area School District.

The postcard was postmarked in Beaver Falls and mailed to Althea Bliss, 4 Swindells Street, in Fall River, Massachusetts. But was Althea their real name? The short, all-caps message mysteriously puts it in quotation marks:

DEAREST FRIEND "ALTHEA"

WHEN YOU RECEIVE THIS CARD I'LL BE ON MY WAY TO ARIZ. SO THE NEXT TIME I WRITE IT'LL BE FROM THERE.

GOODBYE "AL"

Your friend & pal, 

Unfortunately, the cursive signature has been obscured by water damage. But the writer appears to have put their name in quotation marks, too. So much seeming secrecy! There are, by the way, mentions of an "Althea Bliss" in the Fall River newspapers of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in terms of the social scene, local contests and church news. In 1935, she helped to plan a treasure hunt for a Girl Scout troop — said treasure being a box of chocolate bars. 

Finally, it's fascinating to me that some, but not all, of the capital E's have a dramatic backward hook at the top of the letter. I'm unsure if that flourish was taught or just self-implemented by the writer. What does everyone else think?

Dollyween in rainy desert wrapup

The thing about Arizona's Sonoran Desert is that it almost never rains.

Except, of course, this year it rained on Halloween night, during the peak of trick-or-treating.

Boo!

Still, it was a mostly successful evening. This year's theme, as promised, was Dollyween: giving new books to trick-or-treaters of all ages in memory of children's literacy advocate and millions-of-books-benefactor Dolly Parton. (Read more about this general initative at Books for Treats.)

Giving out books in the rain is not ideal, but Joan and I made it work by setting up in the garage and having plastic bags available to wrap the books.

The turnout was a bit depressed by the weather. I counted about 70 trick-or-treaters, down from a little more than 100 last year. The most popular costume, once again, was princess. That was followed, in order of popularity, by fairy, devil/grim reaper and cheerleader. We also had multiple Marios. Other recognizable (to me) costumes of note included Minion, firefighter, Grogu, Ewok, plague doctor, cat, naval officer, Superman, skeleton, Negan, zombie, security guard, Pennywise (Skarsgård version), sheep, chicken, cow, werewolf and policewoman with (actual live) Chihuahua.

There was a wide range of reactions to the book giveaway. (We also had little bags of Utz pretzels so they could go away with something to munch on.) Some quotes and anecdotes from letting the trick-or-treaters pick new books:

• "My mom said I should start reading."
• "I have to read books to finish my homework for first grade"
• [holds up book and shakes it at me] "What do I do with it?"
• "No thank you."
• "Can I have two?"
• The Magic Tree House series remains popular, and some older kids looked upon them nostalgically
• "How many books? Just one?" [She left with Charlotte's Web and Beezus and Ramona]
• Two high-school-age boys snagged The Haunting of Hill House
• Toward the end, two high-school-age girls each took multiple books and seemed very happy

Here are some more photos from the Dollyween festivities...

Halfway through trick-or-treating this little friend showed up. 

(Fortunately, there were no kids around at that moment.) 

I gently directed it to the backyard, where supper as usual was served.

My favorite Halloween posts from over the years

All Hallows' Eve greetings to one and all!

I hope your neighborhoods are filled with safe and happy trick-or-treaters tonight. As you prepare to greet the little ghosts and ghouls at the door, here, for your reading pleasure, are some of my favorite Papergreat Halloween- and horror-themed blog posts, dating all the way back to 2011.  

From 2011: It's nothing a little Witch Cream won't cure

From 2011: Clowns. Why'd it have to be clowns? 

From 2011: Witches and zombies and scarecrows! Oh my!

From 2012: Horrifying ephemeral images that will haunt you this Halloween

From 2013: Which movies gave you the biggest fright?

From 2014: Scholastic Fest: #12, Witch in the House

From 2015: Joyful Hallowe'en: Mild Fear 2015 begins with a vintage postcard

From 2015: Vintage Halloween postcard: The Witch (Julius Bien)

From 2015: Questions, answers & mysteries with Hookland's David Southwell (Part 1)

From 2016: Found photo: She's waiting for someone to throw flowers with

From 2016: Book cover: "Galaxy of Ghouls"

From 2016: Vintage Halloween postcard: "Make a ring of pumpkin seeds..."

From 2017: 1969 Jersey Devil postcard illustrated by Ed Sheetz

From 2017: Vintage postcard: A Jolly Hallowe'en; plus, links to other spooky cards

From 2017: Have a very Baba Yaga Halloween

From 2018: Book of Forbidden Knowledge

From 2019: Book cover: "Haunted Britain"

From 2019: Spooky Tuck & Sons Hallowe'en postcard mailed in 1910

From 2019: Book cover: "Haunted England"

From 2020: Mr. Bill & the Beistle cat

From 2020: Remembering "Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful"

From 2020: I told you there would be dolls

From 2021: Where does this Kodak snapshot rank on the Mild Fear scale?

From 2021: Nostalgia lane: "Lonesome Ghosts" on the Fisher-Price Movie Viewer

From 2021: 1977's "Supermonsters" and 1920's "Der Golem"

From 2021: 1977 children's book about actual (maybe) haunted house

From 2021: Alan Ormsby's 1970s: Summoning zombies and a Scholastic book

(2021 is maybe the best overall year of Halloween posts, check them all out at Mild Fear 2021)

From 2022: Adolf Born's groovy title illustrations for "The Girl on a Broomstick"

From 2023: Photos of Sutton, West Virginia, and the Flatwoods Monster Museum

From 2024: Hans Holzer's "The Psychic World of Plants"

From 2024: Book cover: "Will Eisner's Gleeful Guide to Occult Cookery"

From 2024: Intellivision's "Night Stalker," my first survival horror video game

From 2024: Triad and Stevie and witches, oh my

From 2025: Realms of the uncanny: Dreamcore, backrooms & liminal spaces

From 2025: Book cover: "A Dream of Dracula" — plus other vampire stuff

From 2025: Milkwalker knows where you live

From 2025: VHS tapes are improbably popular again, with horror leading the way

From 2025: Obscure book: "Gabby's Magic Brooms" take on U.S. car culture

From 2026: Book cover: Ida Chittum's "Tales of Terror" (1975)

From 2026: After decades, my final mystery has been solved

Look at those 1971 prices for Halloween sweets

Browsing through the newspapers of yore, I came across these two advertisements for Halloween sweets from 55 years ago, in 1971. Look how low those prices are! Meanwhile, in modern day, prices for candy have risen 7.7% in one year and more than 18% over the past two years, according to federal data and as reported by NPR. That's one way to fight cavities, I guess, by making chocolate unaffordable.

First up is this advertisement for cookies and cupcakes at the Federal Bake Shop in Lancaster, Pa., from the October 26, 1971, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal. Twelve cents for a cupcake! And if you buy two dozen you get the third dozen for free! (Federal Bake Shop opened in 1925 and closed its doors for good sometime in the late 1970s.)

This advertisement for Halloween candy at Woolworth is from the October 28, 1971, Lancaster New Era. You can click it on it to see a larger version and see the low, low prices on all that name-brand chocolate. Woolworth went out of business nationally in 1997.

Georgess McHargue meets werewolves and witches

Writer Georgess McHargue (1941-2011) had a pretty amazing 70 years on Earth. In addition to writing numerous fiction and nonfiction books, she was an editor, poet, book reviewer, gardener and animal lover, among other things. According to her obituary, "Her political activism began with protesting the Viet Nam war, segregation, and continued through her life as she stood firmly against all social injustice and repression of freedom everywhere." She married a blue-eyed archaeologist, Michael, whose interests dovetailed perfectly with her own.

When she died, she'd had breast cancer for 16 years. Per her obituary: "She detested the notion of 'battling' cancer, and decided she'd rather dance."

I couldn't find a complete bibliography of the 35 books that she wrote. I know the list includes the well-regarded 1975 novel Stoneflight, which mixes magic with a teenage girl's struggle to deal with her parents' marital problems. Here's an compelling Betsy Bird review of the book.

In 1972 she published The Impossible People: A History Natural and Unnatural of Beings Terrible and Wonderful, which, years ago, was the first book of hers that I encountered.

And she wrote three books for The Eerie Series, looking specifically at "monsters" through the lens of folklore and history: Meet the Werewolf, Meet the Vampire and Meet the Witches.

I have the werewolf and witches volumes. The vampire seems to be a little tougher to track down.

While monsters weren't entirely Georgess' jam — she was a serious historian whose skepticism about the supernatural is perhaps best conveyed in her 1972 book Facts, Frauds, and Phantasms: A Survey of the Spiritualist Movement — I do want to write a little bit about her two "Eerie Series" books today for Halloween.

• Meet the Werewolf
• First published in 1976. This is the second printing of the J.B. Lippincott paperback.
• Drawings by Stephen Gammell (plus numerous historical illustrations).
• Cover design by Jean Krulis
• Dedication: "This book is for Traci, even though she has now given up werewolves for dolphins."
• Warning on first page: "This is a scary book. Werewolves are supposed to be monsters that eat people, and it is impossible to write about them without some blood and gore. So if you like monsters and enjoy being a little scared, read on. But if you don't like the dark and always think something is looking in your window, this may not be the book for you."
• Chapter titles: 1. What Is a Werewolf? 2. How to Tell a Werewolf When You See One. 3. How to Become a Werewolf. 4. How to Get Rid of a Werewolf. 5. Relatives of the Werewolf. 6. Jean Grenier, the Original "Teenage Werewolf." 7. Gilles Garnier, the Werewolf of Dôle. 8. Peter Stump and Others. 9. Were Werewolves Real? 10. Why Werewolves? 11. The Worst Werewolf Story of All (a retelling of a tale from Elliott O'Donnell's 1912 book Werwolves).
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2003, A. Tomsho wrote: "The book contains numerous ancient stories and accounts, eerie illustrations, and a wealth of obscure information on werewolf lore. ... Other bits of obscure folklore are included, such as the concept of using silver to kill werewolves is a myth. It describes how werewolves can be good, evil, or even detached from human morality all together depending on which region of the world they come from and who tells the tales. It dedicates a space to other shapeshifters as well, such as the werefox witches of Japan."

• Meet the Witches
• Published 1984. This is the stated first edition hardcover from J.B. Lippincott
• Jacket design by Harriett Barton, with illustration courtesy of New York Public Library
• Dedication: "To Michael and Cerridwen"
• Warning on first page: "This is a scary book. Witches in fairy tales eat children, and many people in the world today still believe that witches can make them sick or kill them. Furthermore, any book about witches has to talk about the time in our history when large numbers of real people were burned and tortured to death because they were accused of being witches. If you don't mind all that because you're curious to know where we got our ideas about witches, you will enjoy this book. But if you have nightmares about being chased by people with pointy teeth and you get very nervous when a black cat crosses your path, you had better find something else to do. Above all, do not read this book at night when you are alone."
• Chapter titles: 1. The Weird Sisters. 2. The First Spear and the Second. 3. The Worst Witch Story of All. 4. Fairy Tales, Fox-Witches, and Zombies. 5. Meet the Pagan Witch. 6. The Hammer of Witches. 7. Bring On the Devil's Armies! 8. Satanists, Keep Out.
• Excerpt from author's note: "The stories in this book are my own retellings of very old tales. 'The Worst Witch Story of All' is contained in The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius."
• Goodreads review: In 2017, Jennifer wrote: "Really well done. I was surprised how informative this book was and didn't sugar coat it for children. I would have loved to have read this in elementary school and turned in a book report on it."

Two final things. First, my used copy of Meet the Witches has this nifty sticker for the National Women's History Project, which was founded in 1980 and the history of which can be read about here.

And here's a rare opportunity for community cat Creamsicle, now 4½, 

to get into one of the "cats and books" photos.